Sting in the Tail: Italian Customs Seize 600 Scorpions

Italian customs found more than 600 scorpions in a routine check of the baggage of a Chinese man who flew into Florence, the daily La Repubblica reported Wednesday.

The 607 Manchurian scorpions (Mesobuthus martensii), half of which were still alive, were packed into plastic boxes with ice, the report said.

The creatures that had survived were sent to a special centre while the unnamed Chinese was charged with keeping dangerous animals.

The Manchurian scorpion, which measures some six centimetres (2.5 inches), is prized in China both as a food but also as an ornament because of its gold-coloured shell.

Its poison is not generally fatal.